Keeping balanced on– and off–the mat

By: Elisabeth Edmonston Clark

For Cael Sanderson, it’s all about family,

focus and, for those who know him, fun

The high school boys he works with over at The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints know they can get him going with a funny story. And they work him over often, trying to get him to laugh.

Wouldn’t you—if your church-school teacher was a solid six-footer with an Olympic gold medal and the entire Penn State University wrestling team at the ready on his command? Catholic nuns have nothing on Cael Sanderson in the intimidation department.

Except that he’s not so intimidating.

“He’s just your regular kind of guy, except maybe bigger and a whole lot stronger,” says Caleb Andrews, a 17-year-old State College High School junior in Sanderson’s class. “He’s pretty laid back with us, but if you say something funny he can definitely go places with it.”

The stoic demeanor most people see belies the quick sense of humor those closest to him know well. Most of us just know the outward Cael Sanderson—undefeated during his four years at Iowa State University, from 1999 to 2002, he won four consecutive NCAA championships, became the first university wrestler featured on a box of Wheaties in 2002, was the 2003 world championship silver medalist and took that gold medal at the 2004 Olympics in Greece. There’s no doubt Penn State’s head wrestling coach had been places before moving to Happy Valley, where in April he celebrated the end of his first season as head coach of the Nittany Lions.

Not that he’d tell you any of that. Andrews knows all about his famous youth leader, but not from Sanderson. “Cael’s humble—he’s never even mentioned it,” he says.

The four Cs
Hailing from the predominantly Mormon community of Provo, Utah, at the base of the breathtaking Wasatch Mountains, Cael Norman Sanderson proudly bears the name of his grandfather, Norman Sanderson. Nicknamed “Jaiggs” (pronounced “Jigs”), Norman was the man who would, unknowingly, help launch the wrestling legend.

“I have no idea where the name Jaiggs comes from,” Cael says, “but my earliest childhood memories, around age 4, are of being with him.”  

It was Jaiggs who possessed the vision and energy to organize and personally coach the area’s first youth wrestling club. The Little Mountain Grapplers never met in a fancy gym, just a nondescript room somewhere in the valley.  

“Dad would take us to practices, and we’d hang around for hours,” Cael says.   

The wrestling Sandersons included brothers Cody, who’s the oldest at 33, Cole, 31, Cael, 30, and Cyler, who’s 23. Their father, Steve Sanderson, who wrestled throughout high school and later for Brigham Young University, was their chauffeur, hustling them off “probably to keep us busy and out of trouble,” Cael quips. He went on to coach all four of his boys while they attended Wasatch High School in Heber City, Utah, and still coaches and teaches there today.

“Our family was always the main focus when we were growing up,” says Cody, whom Cael brought with him to Penn State as associate head coach. “We’re extremely close-knit—it’s just that way.”

Even young Cyler, whose shock of red hair conspicuously sets him apart from his older brothers, chose to relocate to Happy Valley from Iowa State for his senior wrestling season. “I want to be coached by my brothers,” he says simply. “It never even occurred to me not to move. It’s amazing to get to do something I love, with the people I love.”  

Even though some of the credits from his art major—something else in which he followed in big brother Cael’s footsteps—wouldn’t transfer, that didn’t stop him. He’s happy to spend this summer making them up, graduating in August. “[Cael’s] helped me in every way through college: with my homework, wrestling and now, well, letting me live with him.”  

It was never a question for Cody, either. “When Cael got the offer at Penn State, I knew I wanted to go with him. Yeah, I miss the guys at Iowa and the friends I made, but we want to stick together. …Plus, we keep each other laughing.”

And though Cole lives in San Antonio, he enjoys applying his athletic expertise to the family industry as a dietician and by developing exercise plans.

Cael, without a moment’s hesitation, credits his family as the reason there’s a gold medal, even if he did take a full year to unpack it from the move to State College. “They always believed I could do it and supported me all the way. I never had the Olympic dream. It was just something I knew I was going to do someday.”  

Surely, it was a fun expectation. But Cael refutes that. “Actually, no, not really.”

But isn’t he almost smiling on that gold medal podium? That must have been public Cael. Private Cael was probably sharing a joke with the bronze and silver medalists.

Healthy Perspective
Perhaps it was the extraordinary pressure, especially from big-name sponsors that didn’t allow him to find pleasure in the process. “ASICS named a shoe after me,” Cael says softly. “It made me realize a lot of people were counting on me to win.”  

That kind of visibility and the underlying expectations might easily crack the best of us. Maintaining a healthy perspective and balanced existence in the midst of the storm is an art—perhaps equal to the sport itself. Sports psychologists invest most of their time into helping athletes overcome their own negative or fear-based perceptions about themselves.

But for Cael, perspective seems to come naturally, almost easily. “I had to come to terms with believing that, at the end of the day, all I could do was my best—and then, live with the results. That was good enough for me.”  

In addition to his brothers, parents and grandparents, Cael had his wife, Kelly, beside him along the way. Married in their senior year at Iowa State, she was there as he steadily pressed forward.

Today, she helps manage Cael’s professional website and online store, where you can order an autographed Wheaties box or even pony up $75 for a pair of ASICS Cael V2.0 shoes.

The couple has one son, Tate, who’s 3 years old, and the family is expecting a second child this month. “Cael loves being a father,” says Cyler. “He’s a great dad, running around for hours, playing with Tate—it’s like he never gets tired.”  

Tate appears, even at 3, to be coming up in the family tradition. “If  Tate hears the song from the YouTube video, the one we play before matches, he’s ready to wrestle. But the minute I come towards him, he runs away,” Cael says. “So, I chase after him and then we get into pillow fights and run around the house. I try to help Kelly out by wearing him down—he sleeps better, too.”

The family’s new, large, open house in Pine Grove Mills is perfect for the blossoming brood’s romping. Cael’s thumb may even be just a little green, as he counts berry picking among his favorite pastimes off the mat. “I grew raspberries in Iowa,” he says.

Here, the young family goes to dinner, watches movies, takes drives. “We’re really pretty boring.”

Boring maybe, but Cael is clearly in mental and physical balance. Maybe he practices transcendental meditation, endures daily 10-mile runs or eats vegan to stay healthy. “Actually, I don’t belong to a gym or do anything to stay fit besides my job. Getting on the mat three times a day with the guys is an all-over workout. I don’t eat anything special, but I try to avoid pizza—I can really feel it afterwards. Anything Kelly fixes, I’m happy with,” Cael says breezily.  

“Cael’s pretty easygoing. He always manages to find his way through the pressure, balance demands and keep perspective. His No. 1 priority, no matter what, is his family—his wife and son,” Cody says.   

That sense of fun—the one his high schoolers try to coax out—is a pretty significant piece of the Cael Sanderson puzzle too. “You’d never know it looking at him, but Cael’s a really funny guy,” Cyler says.

As boys, Cyler and Cael shared a room. Being the younger of the two by seven years, Cyler would often walk around the house, calling out for Cael. One night, as Cyler looked for Cael and couldn’t find him, he turned on the light in their bedroom to discover his bed flopping around in the air, like a scene out of a classic horror film. It was Cael, hiding beneath, puppeteering the gyrations and giggling. “He’s constantly joking around like that, even at work,” says Cyler.  

Cody chimes in. “Yeah, he’s comedic-like funny.”  

Which comes in handy with the young men he counsels at his church—another piece of the Cael puzzle. “The most important thing in the world to me is living the right way. That means raising our son correctly and loving God. It’s a no-brainer. Everything else is temporary. During my most challenging times I felt the most spiritual, because I had to rely on God. I want to share that with these high-school boys,” Cael says. “Plus, they’re pretty cool to hang out with.”   •  SCM

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